The Guardian of Spring
by Stephy825
Summary: When Haruo wakes up from a three-year sleep, he gets thrust in to all kinds of adventures that people have planned out for him. What happens when he finds out that Yusei used to be his best friend, and has a serious case of amnesia? *Reverse of Arcadia*
1. The Arcadia Movement

A/N : Yay~ I actually got to make a chapter! *celebrates* anyway, this is the second time I'm following the game script thing, and this is my first time writing down a duel. So, if it's bad, I apologize about that. Anyway, read on! Oh yeah, about the weird title...that will be explained later on in the story.

* * *

Chapter 1 - The Arcadia Movement

"Uh...where..?" a male teen mumbled to himself. His face was filled with confusion as soon as he noticed that he was looking at a forest. Not to mention that he was floating above a forest. Suddenly, two weird monkey-shaped figures ran by; they were chasing someone, but he didn't really know who. The only thing the teen could make out was that the person was a girl...

"Help..!" she screamed as I saw her run further in the woods. The two monkeys still chased her, and it still left the guy in the dark. What the heck was happening..?

* * *

"Sayer..!" the voice echoed in the dim room. Machines were everywhere, beeping, processing and showing tons of information. "A change has been detected in the test subject's body!" the woman said, a little worried and raising her voice in surprise. The woman had orange hair and matching eyes; she wore a strange dark-blue and green uniform with white long-sleeves. She was staring at the man beside the body of a boy that laid there in a capsule-like bed.

"What is it..?" he responded, anxiousness written all over his face. Sayer had dark red hair and brown eyes, his dark green jacket and white tie makes him look like the boss of the girl.

"See this wavy pattern?" she pointed at one of the screens nearby her. "It's likely that the subject's communicating with the Spirit World."

"_Really_? Then all of our research up to this point hasn't been in vain." he murmured, a small smile crept on his face. "Okay, that's enough for today. Maybe it's time we put this one to work for us..." the man had even a larger sneer than before. "Even if this subject can't use psychic powers, I'm sure we'll have a decent duelist on our hands..."

"Ah..! The subject's eyes have opened!" she suddenly exclaimed.

The teen slowly blinked. With difficulty, he turned his head and faced the two people beside him. His vision was still very blurry though, and he hasn't woken up for so long that even his hearing has gone hazy. All he could do was groan in pain, waking up felt horrible for him.

"When our friend here is able to walk, take our little protégé to his room." his smirk disappeared. "But make sure no one realizes that this subject is not a psychic duelist. If anyone finds this out, our secret might be leaked to the outside world."

"Yes sir." she nodded as the man exited from the room, leaving the dazed boy and the woman alone. She shifted her gaze at the 'subject' and sighed. "Well then," she murmured to him, even though she knew that he wouldn't understand her. "Welcome to the world after your three year sleep. I hope you enjoy your new life."

* * *

A few hours later, the lady was guiding the boy as she watched him wobbled every time he took a step. She sighed again, sleeping for more than a year can do more damage to someone than she had previously expected. She was on high guard in case the boy would tip over and fall, thankfully he seemed to get the hang of walking again, and didn't seem as dazed as the time he just woke up. He was almost...adorable. His green hair was a little ruffled from lying down, and his purple eyes would widen every now and then when he tried to walk properly. She guided the teen to a green door in the hallway. The sensors picked her up immediately, and the automatic door opened with ease, revealing the two people inside the room.

"This will be your room from today on out." she told him, nudging him gently to make sure he was listening. The boy looked a little surprised by the sudden action and quickly turned his head to her. "If there's anything you're not sure about, please ask these two guys." she continued. "Other than that, here's a deck that you can use." grabbing something in her pocket, she took out a deck of 40 cards, enough for him to survive a couple of duels. He nodded in thanks and slowly took the deck from her hand.

"Since the deck has already been created, be careful not to mix the cards up." she reminded. He nodded again, which caused the lady to think that his ability to speak must have gotten a little off too.

"You'll be receiving you instructions from Sayer soon." she then faced the two people. "You two better be ready!" the woman said with a stern tone, with that, she left the boy with the two, simply staring at them in slight confusion.

"A pleasure to meet you." one of them spoke up to break the silence. "My name's Okita. I'm sure we'll get along smashingly!" Okita had dark brown hair and small eyeglasses nearby his eyes. They seemed closed though, but maybe it was simply because his vision was still blurred. He did notice the uniform though, it looked like the uniform the lady was wearing (which as he recalled, her name was Seria) except the thick line in the middle was light purple instead of blue.

"We just got here ourselves, so I'm afraid we probably can't answer too many of your questions." Okita added as he smiled at him. He then nudged his friend to talk as well.

"Hey..! Okita! Fine, my name's Liquid, what's yours?" he said, a little hesitant, but firm. Liquid had light brown hair compared to his friend, yet they had the same clothing as the person beside him. His black eyes stared at the teen, waiting for him to respond.

"Ha...haruo." he said his name to them with some trouble. His voice must have hurt from not talking for so long.

"Haruo huh? Nice to meet ya." Liquid stared at him for a few seconds, and then felt uncomfortable with the silence again. "...hey, are you sure you aren't daydreaming?" he suddenly asked. That question made Haruo flinch a little, but..."What do you mean?"

"You know the name of the guy beside me right?"

"Yeah...it's Okita. He just introduced himself awhile ago right?"

"Uh huh...just testing. How 'bout...where we are?" he pressed. This time, Haruo was silent; confusion written all over. "You don't know..?" he asked again incredulously. Haruo nodded in reply, a little embarrassed by the question.

"We're in the Arcadia Movement Haruo," Okita answered. "And sorry about my friend here, he's just bored."

"It's okay." he replied.

After some time though, they were all bored, the instructions didn't seem like they were coming soon..."Hey Haruo, let's duel." Okita said out of the blue.

"Huh? Duel?"

"Yeah, since we're not doing anything..." his voice trailed off as he picked up his duel disk on the brown bed sheet. "To pass the time. How 'bout that?"

"Um...alright, but..." Haruo stared at the deck he was given. "_Duel..?_ _How do you do that?_" he thought.

"'Kay, let's start!" Okita beamed as he wore the duel disk on his arm, Haruo followed with another duel disk on the couch, he was terribly anxious though, he had no idea what was going on. Suddenly, the duel disk flared on, and Okita placed his deck in a slot at the circle-part of the duel disk. Haruo did the same; he hoped that Okita wouldn't notice that he didn't know how to...duel. "_**Duel!**_"

"Right, I'll go first." Okita said calmly after he picked up five cards from his deck. "Draw..!" he grabbed a card from the deck and placed it in his hand.

"I activate **Red Medicine** and two **Blue Medicine**!" he then got three cards from his hand and placed them under the five slots on the duel disk, increasing his Life points by 1300 combined. Haruo was a little surprised by the sudden increase; he perceived it as a bad thing, and had to take it down as soon as possible.

"Okay...then I set a monster and a trap card." he took out two more cards and placed one horizontally on a slot and one below it. "I end my turn."

_**End Turn 1**_** Okita = 9300 Haruo = 8000**

Haruo was nervous, he tried to remember what Okita did, and do what he has to do to take out those Life Points. "Draw!"

All of a sudden, as if by instinct, he took a monster card from his hand and placed it on the slot. "I summon **Psychic Snail** in attack position!" **(LV 4 Atk 1900/Def 1200) **A large snail monster came from the card and out of the room, surprising Haruo himself more than Okita. "A-and then...I attack the set monster!" he stuttered. The monster did as commanded and shot out a large electrical beam towards the card faced down. It then revealed a weird looking man, but burst into particles as soon as Haruo saw it. **(Dr. Cranium LV 1 Atk 100/Def 100 - ****Destroyed****)**

"Not bad Haruo, activate effect..!" his Life Points dropped by 800 out of the blue, but after that, he took another card from his deck and added it to his hand. The teen was confused by the action, yet at the same time understood it was the effect of Dr. Cranium. He had a head ache now, his emotions were mixed; it's like he knew this was his first time duelling, yet he already knew what to do, as if he had done this a million times before.

_**End Turn 2**_ **Okita = 8500 Haruo = 8000**

"Draw!" he did the same thing as before. "Activate **Spring of Rebirth**!" he took out a Spell card and inserted it on the slot beside the trap card he placed. "I set a monster, and I end my turn."

_**End Turn 3**_ **Okita = 8500 Haruo = 8000**

"That was a short turn..." Haruo thought. "Draw!" he took out a card from his deck, his eyes widening a little since it was a trap card (he had no idea how he knew that). "I set a trap card," he placed it in the duel disk. "And I summon **Genex Neutron**!" **(LV 4 Atk 1800/Def 1200)** This time a large machine-type monster rose from the field, it clenched its mechanical fists, ready for battle.

"Now, Genex Neutron, attack the set monster!" Haruo exclaimed. The monster easily launched forward and punched the card, which revealed to be some kind of mirror and destroying it to bits. **(Healing Wave Generator LV 4 Atk 800/Def 1600 - ****Destroyed****)**

"Then Psychic Snail, direct attack!" it shot out another electrical beam, shocking Okita a little, but his Life Points dropped by a lot.

"I also activate Genex Neutron's effect, and draw a machine-tuner from my deck." Haruo drew a card and got **Genex Controller (LV 3 Atk 1400/Def 1200)** "I end my turn."

_**End Turn 4**_** Okita = 6600 Haruo = 8000**

"So this isn't your first time Haruo? That's good, because I don't have to go easy on you." he chuckled. "I set another monster and a trap card. With that I end my turn."

_**End turn 5**_** Okita = 6600 Haruo = 8000**

"To be honest Okita, this _is_ my first time." he replied, earning a stunned face from Okita. "Really, then it's almost like you were born to duel!" he laughed.

"Heh, I'm not that good...okay, I summon Genex Controller!" a strange machine monster came up, looking a little sleepy and dazed. "Attack the set monster Genex Neutron!" again, it did so, blasting it easily, leaving another of Okita's monsters to the graveyard. **(Telekinetic Shocker LV 4 Atk 1700/Def 700 - ****Destroyed****)**

"Then direct attack, Psychic Snail and Genex Controller!" the two of them combined their attack and blasted Okita, making him flinch in response, but he was still fine. Yet his face grew more serious now, he was losing to a total newbie, that can't be good.

_**End Turn 6**_** Okita = 3300 Haruo = 8000**

"Grr...I guess I'm just unlucky today." Okita thought as he drew another card. He set once more another monster in defence, but he knew he was doomed the next turn. "Ah well, it can't be helped."

_**End Turn 7**_** Okita = 3300 Haruo = 8000**

"I think I could win this..!" Haruo thought happily as he drew from his deck. "Okay, I summon Telekinetic Shocker, and I attack the set monster with it..!" **(Healing Wave Generator - ****Destroyed****)**

"Once more..! Direct Attack Psychic Snail and Genex Neutron!" he beamed as he commanded the two monsters. They built up a large ball of energy, and attacked Okita with it, sending his Life Points down to zero. He wasn't as surprised since he expected it, but Liquid was gaping a little, and Haruo was celebrating.

**End of Duel**

"You're amazing Haruo. I shall have to dedicate myself to training harder like you!" Okita smiled as he shook hands with Haruo. "T-thank you..! But I think I was just lucky, that's all..." he rubbed his right hand on the back of his head.

"I can't believe you lost this easily Okita, you're normally much stronger than that." Liquid said while raising an eyebrow. His friend turned to him and sighed. "I was simply unprepared. That's all."

"Psychic duelists...listen up!" all of a sudden, a familiar person entered the room. "The next operation to be carried out by our very own Arcadia Movement had been decided upon! Our target will be the Sector Security event, the Fortune Cup!" Okita and Liquid seemed surprised, but Haruo just stayed silent and listened. "Apparently, a large number of duelists with amazing skills will participate in this tournament. Sector Security...I can't let them go about their business without any oversight now can I?" he then faced the door behind him. "Akiza, come here..!" out of the blue, a girl with dark red hair and brown eyes entered the room. Her clothes were different than all of them, with a low-cut red corset with short, light green puffy sleeves and a high collar. She also sports a sleeveless magenta trench coat that flares behind her which is shorter and pleated in the front.

"This is Akiza Izinski and she has been invited to take part in the Fortune Cup. I need the three of you to infiltrate the rear of the event hall in order to support her. That said, it looks like you don't have enough power now to bend a psychic duel to your will." a small smirk suddenly appeared on his face, but vanished as quickly as it came. "The three of you will have to work together! Consider it a kind of field training." he glared at Okita and Liquid, yet he seemed to avoid Haruo's gaze.

"Akiza, make sure you give those other contestants a real taste of your powers!" he shifted to her.

"Yes sir. Everything will be as you wish, Sayer." she responded in monotone.

"Alright. You three, head over to the tournament. Don't fail me!

* * *

A/N : Well? How was it? I hope not too bad..! By the way, Haruo won the duel easily because that's what really happened when I was typing. I guess I did get lucky, and he didn't attack me at all, I was just following whatever happened on the screen. Whoever knew writing a duel would be so hard..?

Please review..! :D


	2. First Mission

Chapter 2 - First Mission

"You ready Haruo..?" Okita asked as they were about to exit their room. The teen nodded slowly, and hesitantly as well. "Y-yeah...I guess."

"Don't be nervous, all we're gonna do is to infiltrate the Fortune Cup. Inside we may see some awesome dueling..!" Liquid encouraged.

"Um...isn't infiltrating a _bad_ thing?" his face had 'innocent' written all over it.

"Depends on the reason." Liquid replied mildly.

"Oh. So...infiltrating the tournament is good?" Haruo asked again.

"Good for the movement." Okita responded simply, leaving him silent because he was afraid if he pried further it may upset them. Okita did say that they came here recently too, so they may not know the group's intentions...or Sayer's motives for that matter. "Who's Akiza against in the Fortune Cup anyway?"

They both shrugged. "Dunno, though I did hear he's a powerful duelist." Liquid mumbled. "Okay, enough chit-chat, we can't let Sayer down can we?" Okita beamed. The two both nodded in reply, and then they all exited the room and left the building, passing the gate and entered new Domino City.

* * *

"Since we're not allowed to enter the tournament, we have to find a way back." Liquid murmured. Haruo looked around, the streets were clean, all of them covered with the same pink-ish colored tiles. A few benches were around too, along with trashcans and lamp posts. The usual city decor, except you could barely see anyone roaming around. They must be watching the Fortune Cup...or staying at home watching the Fortune Cup from the TV. "Hey Haruo, can you check the entrance gate?" Okita asked. "Okay." he replied. He ran towards a short street where the tiles changed into gray concrete, and Haruo could easily spot the guard at the front of the gate. Sighing, he decided to turn back so he won't be seen; it would be better if they didn't know that they were lingering around here...

When Haruo came back to the same place, he saw Okita and Liquid nearby a staircase that stretched somewhere the teen obviously had no idea where. "We can enter from here Haruo! Come on!" Liquid yelled, but not loud enough for most people to hear. Haruo nodded and followed the pair as they went up.

Suddenly, he found himself in front of a ton of large crates. Light yellow-brown in color, and heavy enough for one person to push with slight difficulty. It took awhile to solve this weird puzzle, but with the three of them working together, they easily got in and saw that they ended up not far from the gate. But they were inside, that's what counted. Silently, they went past the automatic dark green doors and crept inside. Okita spotted another door that may be empty, and went in. He soon went out again and gestured the other two to follow. Haruo and Liquid nodded and tiptoed towards their friend, safely inside the deserted room.

Meanwhile...

"Yusei Fudo emerges as the victor of this epic battle! He is our champion!" the MC exclaims as the crowd burst into roars and cheers.

Back at the room where the three were, from there they could hear the loud screams and cheers from the audience. "Huh? Has the duel finished already?" Liquid mumbled aloud. "More importantly, where's Okita? He's been taking forever..!" at that moment, the said person entered the room, panting a little but with a slight serious expression on his face.

"I apologize for my lateness, but I have bad news. Akiza Izinski just lost."

"_What?_" they both said in unison. "Don't we need her for this plan to work? Now what?" Liquid was yelling from shock. Haruo was a little stunned; he thought that Akiza was a good duelist judging that Sayer looked like he put a lot of trust in her. Who could she have lost to..?

"I guess we just have to go home and forget about it. Even coming here was probably a waste of time now..." Okita answered, disappointed. Out of the blue his expression changed. "But why don't we take a peek around before we go on our merry little way?" he suggested.

"Won't that be dangerous? I mean...what if Sayer gets mad at us for disobeying orders?" Haruo asked.

"Come on Haruo, he didn't say anything about a little exploring now didn't he?" Liquid nudged him a little. "Fine...we'll do it." he smiled. The three of them went out of the waiting room and walked through the short hall when they heard a voice nearby them. "Nice job Akiza. Now let's go home." it was Sayer, Haruo was sure of it.

"But I...I..." Akiza stammered back, a little confused.

"Let's go. You need rest now Akiza." Sayer insisted. Soon, the pair can be seen not far from the trio. As soon as the man saw them, he faced them and wore his usual face. "Everyone, the plan is on hold. We're going home." he simply said. It was a little surprising for Haruo. That's it-?

"Ehehehe! Akiza Izinski, stop right there..!" the voice suddenly came out. The teen then spotted a short guy with silver hair and green eyes come from the elevator at the far end of the hall. He had a sinister expression on his face and the red lines on his eyes made it kind of scarier. His outfit consisted of a white turtleneck undershirt and pants, along with a black belt and a red jacket with a swallowtail back. "Director Goodwin would like to see you my dear." he sneered.

"Hmph." Sayer glared at him. "As if I would ever want to give him the time of day."

"Ehehehehe! Feisty aren't we..? Well then, I'll just have to take you by force!" out of the blue; the two security guard behind him stepped forward and were closing in on Sayer and Akiza. "Grr...I don't have time for this nonsense." he muttered. The man then faced again Okita, Liquid and Haruo. "Take care of these guys. I have to take Akiza back so she can rest." with that, the pair left, leaving them having to confront the two guards. Okita and Liquid took one while Haruo took the other, then the duel began. "**Duel!**" the security guard and Haruo shouted in unison after putting their duel disk on.

"I'll start, draw!" Haruo picked a card from the deck and placed it with the other five. He spotted Threatening Roar again, and set the card on the field. He then noticed a new card in the batch. "Alright, let's see what this can do." he thought. "I summon **Genex Turbine**!" **(LV 4 Atk 1400/Def 1300) **he placed a face-up monster card on the field, and another large machine emerged from the field. As soon as it came out, a small flash came from it, and Haruo saw that its attack increased by 400 points. **(Atk 1800)**

"Cool...u-um, I end my turn!"

**End Turn 1 Guard = 8000 Haruo = 8000**

Haruo noticed that his opponent wasn't saying much at all, and if he did, it wasn't with much...enthusiasm. "Draw." after that, he set a monster and slid two trap cards in his duel disk. "End of turn."

**End Turn 2 Guard = 8000 Haruo = 8000**

"I have to be a little more careful around this guy..." the teen thought. "Draw!"

"Activate **Simultaneous Loss**!" the guard suddenly shouted while the trap card flipped open, causing the next card in his deck to go directly to the graveyard. Haruo didn't know what card it was, but he felt like it was a good one sadly. He checked the card he just got, it was **Genex Controller** again. **(LV 4 Atk 1400/Def 1200) **He smiled at the card, and then placed it on his disk. "I Summon Genex Controller!" the sleepy-ish monster appeared on the field, and **Genex Turbine** sprang into action, stretching out a black cord from itself, it attached to the other monster, making its attack go up by 400 as well. **(Atk 1800)**

"Attack Genex Turbine to the set monster!" he commanded. The large machine-thing suddenly released a large beam of light, and the beam passed through the card easily, blasting it to bits.** (Masked Dragon LV 3 Atk 1400/Def 1100 - Destroyed)**

"Activate effect, I Special Summon **Baby Dragon** in defence position." **(LV 3 Atk 1200/Def 800)** out of the blue, another card came up on the field. The monster emerged from it, and took the form of a small, orange dragon. Haruo smirked, and told his other monster to attack it. Of course, it shattered its defences with no effort, and the guard was left with no monsters on the field again.

**End Turn 3 Guard = 8000 Haruo = 8000**

Again, the man drew a card and set another monster, his face still neutral, but Haruo noticed a flash of worry in his eyes. "If this keeps up, then I'll be able to win this in the next few turns..!" he thought.

**End Turn 4 Guard = 8000 Haruo = 8000**

The teen took out another card again and placed it in his hand. Smiling to himself, he summoned **Psychic Snail** on the field along with his two other monsters. **(LV 4 Atk 1900/Def 1200)**

"Genex Controller, attack the set card!" it did so, and showed a weird, white angel before it broke into pieces. **(Mokey Mokey LV 1 Atk 300/Def 100 - Destroyed) **"Then Psychic Snail and Genex Turbine, direct attack!" the two monsters started to gather up energy and unleashed a large beam that mixed together and created a large explosion on the opponent. He seemed fine, but the decrease was great. "I end my turn!" Haruo beamed. He took out a big chunk of those points, and in the next turn, he could win.

**End Turn 5 Guard = 4300 Haruo = 8000**

This time, when he drew, a shocked and angered look on his face appeared. After that, he placed another set monster on the field and exhaled sharply. "I end my turn."

**End turn 6 Guard = 4300 Haruo = 8000**

"Summon **Genex Neutron**..!" **(LV 4 Atk 1800/Def 1200) **the same mechanical monster from before came up on the field, and oddly, sneered at his opponent, though only Haruo noticed that. Suddenly, one of Genex Turbine's cords stretched and plugged itself on the newly summoned monster, once more, increasing its attack by 400. **(Atk 2200) **Haruo grinned in excitement and shouted the command for Genex Controller to attack the only monster on the opponent's side of the field. **(Bubonic Vermin LV 3 Atk 900/Def 600 - Destroyed)** He expected a response from the guard, but he kept quiet, and soon, the guard's Life Points dropped to zero.

**End of Duel**

"Grr...I was unlucky today." he muttered under his breath and stepped back nearby the weird guy. Liquid also won the duel against the other guy, and Okita was just back-up, so he didn't do much. "Well, well, well...looks like they've managed to escape." the silver-haired man smirked at the loss. "I suppose we have no choice but to fall back." he said mildly. After that, the three people entered the elevator again, and soon only Okita, Liquid and Haruo were left in the hall. "That was close..." Haruo mumbled.

"Looks like this is all we're gettin' done today...our plan was a failure. Let's head back." Liquid sighed. "Indeed it was...we likely won't be getting any more orders today." Okita added. "We wouldn't want to waste our energy on any unnecessary efforts now would we..?"

"Uh huh..." Haruo tried to follow the conversation. Okita smiled at him and walked away, out of the empty area. Liquid was behind him, but he turned back for a brief moment. "Hurry up Haruo, let's beat it." he said. Then he too was out of sight. Haruo exhaled, he better go along with them if he didn't want to get lost in here. He was about to take one step when he heard more steps behind him. Turning, he saw a weird lady with green hair and strange-looking glasses behind him.

"Hey..! You're the duelist from the Arcadia Movement right? I'm Carly Carmine, journalist!" she exclaimed with a big grin on her face.

"Eh..? _Journalist_?" Haruo repeated in confusion.

"Yeah, now can I ask you a favour? Tell me everything you know about the Arcadia Movement!" she beamed, but then she frowned a little. "Although...it looks like you're gonna be a pretty tough nut to crack."

"_Tough nut_? What does that mean?"

"Haha! Look at you! That innocent look in your eyes...I haven't seen that in awhile!" she grinned. All of a sudden, they both heard a piercing scream out of nowhere, and Carly looked shocked by it, while Haruo was still very confused about the entire situation. "Huh? Oh my gosh! Has the championship match started already?" she exclaimed, worried in a...sort of shocked way. "I've gotta get to the stadium, pronto!" Carly then ran to the elevator, and Haruo decided to follow to find out about the sound too.

* * *

"What..? What's going on?" when the door opened, he saw Carly with a stunned face, and even more surprising, a large, flaming dragon-like creature was high above them. "W-who just summoned that huge dragon? This is gonna be HUGE! I gotta get an interview!" she exclaimed excitedly. Haruo heard cheering all of a sudden, and saw the crowd down below. Taking a look behind the rail, he saw a large track for the Duel Runner, and two people standing there...

"Ohhh the drama! What a shocker! No one could have predicted this..!" the MC was practically shrieking over the loud noises coming from the audience. "We have a new king! _Yuseiii Fudooooo_!"

"Yusei...Fudo?" Haruo repeated. All of a sudden, his head began to pound, hard. Like out of the blue someone hit him hard from behind with a strong weapon, except that didn't even happen. Haruo then saw something that made him stumble and gape in surprise.

Everything was blurry, but he could make out the few buildings in the background. Along with a bridge not far from there...the place was dirty, and he could see two kids playing nearby. The whole place had a peaceful atmosphere...but two people stood in front of him, and they were colored vibrantly. Yet oddly enough, he couldn't make out their faces or clothes at all. Like they were being blocked by his own mind.

_"Looks like it was a breeze for both of you huh..?" he heard a voice say._

_"Yeah...I guess it was. I mean, we're good friends after all..." another voice followed. _

"That voice..." Haruo blinked. For a split second, he saw what the person looked like. Black, spiky hair with yellow highlights, a dark brown vest and blue eyes...it was foggy, but Haruo felt he knew him from somewhere before. His mind told him that he was important to him. But how..? "Ugh...who is he?" Haruo stuttered as his head ached further, causing him to fall on his knees. "Who..? Who is he..? Why...why can't I remember?" he screamed; his hands covering his ears and his eyes closed shut, trying to think as hard as he could. But no matter what, he couldn't find him again; the picture disappeared from his mind.

"H-hey! Are you alright?" when Haruo heard it, he opened his eyes and looked up, finding Carly staring at him with a worried face. "You just suddenly started shrieking...you okay?"

"I'm...I'm fine." walk unsteadily, Haruo managed to get himself to stand, pushing Carly's hand away from him. "Sorry, but I won't be able to answer your questions...another time...I promise." after that, he staggered to the elevator and pressed the button; the door sliding open a few moments later. "Are you sure you can get back like that?" Carly asked again.

"Yeah...thanks for worrying." Haruo replied, his voice weak from the sudden memory that came to him. Still dizzy, he entered the lift, and then the doors closed.

* * *

"There you are Haruo!" blinking a few times, the teen saw Okita and Liquid running towards him. Smiling, he walked slowly to them, his body feeling heavy and tired all of a sudden. "We were worried that something happened to you! Where have you been?" Liquid questioned. "I was-" out of the blue, Haruo eyes closed and he collapsed into Okita and Liquid, catching him on time for all of them not to fall on the ground. "Haruo?" they both shouted in worry. Noticing that their friend was now unconscious, they brought him back to the room and laid him on Okita's bed. Haruo looked pale, and Liquid was already panicking that the situation was worse than it seemed. Okita decided to check if he had a fever; after a few seconds, he sighed in relief. "Well...he's not sick. I think he's just exhausted." he concluded. The other also exhaled. "Phew..! For a second there, I thought Haruo was in big trouble..!"

"It's a little strange though...Haruo doesn't look that frail...I wonder what got him so tired?" Okita mumbled while gazing at Haruo's slightly troubled face.

* * *

A/N : If it's a little confusing and vague, sorry. I was sorta rushing this...I hope it isn't too bad, and Haruo (and I) won another easy battle again! Maybe Haruo_ is_ lucky after all...

Please Review~! Yay~ nearly three thousand words!


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